His Safe Keeping (The Safe Series) (3 page)

Chapter Three

After going to the hardware store to get what he needed, Kade returned to Krista’s house on a mission. Walking up to her door, he tried the knob to see if she locked the door after he’d left. It turned and he pushed the door open with frustration. Damn! Did the woman even know how to lock a fuckin’ door? Walking on into her house, he was instantly assaulted with a blast of music. Looking over, Krista was fast asleep on the loveseat, wrapped in the blanket he’d given her.
How the hell can she sleep with that music blasting?
He wondered to himself. Walking over to the little stereo, he turned down the volume and then headed back out to his truck. He gathered his tools and things and went to work putting the new, and a whole hulluva’ lot better, locks on her doors.

Krista woke slowly. Something was off. Something was different, she could feel it. Then she realized the noise she was hearing was a drill? She sat up, looked around, and then she saw him. Kade was in her kitchen by the backdoor on his knees. Drilling a hole in her door? She knew it wasn’t much of a door, but did he have to put a hole in it? “What are you doing?” Krista asked him with a hint of annoyance.

“Installing a damn lock,” Kade answered her without even turning around.

“Why?” Krista stood there, confused.

“Because it didn’t have one,” Kade replied and continued to work. She walked over to stand beside him, bent down to study the hole he had drilled, then looked at him and waited until his eyes met hers.

“Yes, I know I didn’t have a lock. That’s what that piece of wood was for.” She felt as if she should explain, since he didn’t seem to understand, as she pointed to the now discarded wedge of wood. “But why are you, as in
you
,” she said as she waved her hand up and down in front of him like she was on a game show and presenting him as the prize, “putting a lock on my door?” She finished what she had to say while pointing at the door.

“It didn’t have one. You needed one. Now it will have one,” he spoke slowly as he turned to open a package which contained a door knob and a dead bolt. “I’ve already finished the front door and your new keys are over there.” He nodded over his shoulder in the direction of the bar. “The one key will work with all the locks.” Krista just stood there staring at this man while he took the old door knob off to replace it with the new one.

“Um, yeah, but can I ask why? I mean, why are you…as in you, doing it? Is it a cop thing in this town?” she stammered, but she was determined to get some answers.

“How long have you lived here?” Kade asked her, completely changing the subject.

“What?” She was starting to feel a little stupid or maybe it was this man making her feel that way. She didn’t like the feeling.

“How long have you lived here?” He paused in what he was doing to look at her. “How long have you lived in this house? In this town?”

Standing back up, Krista stared at him, slightly confused. “Almost six months.”

He glanced up at her face. “You’ve been here in this house for six fuckin’ months without a lock on this door, and a bullshit lock on the front?” he growled as he swung his arm out to point in the direction of the other door.

She stepped back away from him, not liking his tone of voice. “Uh, yeah, but it’s no big deal.” She explained to him cautiously.

Kade dropped his head like he was studying the floor, just breathing in and out, in and out, in and out. The muscles in his jaw were jumping with each breath. He held that position for what felt like hours, but was really less than a minute. When he did move, he got to his feet, started walking toward her and didn’t stop until the tips of his cowboy boots were touching the toes of her bare feet. Leaning down, his face close to hers, he bellowed at her, “No
big deal
?” She jumped, started to take another step back away from him, but before she could move, he straightened to his full height and paced around, muttering under his breath the entire time. “Krista, you live on a dead end street. In the woods. Your closest neighbor is over a quarter of a mile away.” Kade never took his eyes off of her.

“I know where I live, I live here!” Krista was getting angry and her voice rose with each word that she spoke.

That scary-pissed look came back when he roared back at her. “What the fuck is the matter with you?”

Now she was seriously getting pissed! He was standing in
her
house, yelling at her, for what? “What’s the matter with me? What’s the matter with you? You’re in
my
house!” She stated this while waving her arms back and forth, indicating the whole house. “Mine.” Still flailing her arms back and forth, she pointed at herself. “That I might remind you, you broke into.” She gritted her teeth and leaned toward him.

“Yeah. I did. In less than a fuckin’ minute. Damn, woman, one good kick to that piece of shit door would have broken the lock.” He indicated the discarded old door knob lying on the floor by said door.

That was it. Now she was good and pissed. She stood straight up, crossing her arms at her chest. “First off, my neighbor is like ninety years old and she’s too sweet to go around breaking into people’s houses, much less kicking in a door. Plus, she likes me, because I always bring her muffins when I fix them. Second—” But, Krista didn’t get to finish before he interrupted by talking over her.

“Damn it, woman! Do you have any idea what can happen to a woman, a beautiful woman, who lives alone, doesn’t know how to lock a door, and has a neighbor who’s as old as dirt and no way in hell to protect herself, much less someone else?” Kade glared at her when she didn’t say anything right away. Then he continued his tirade, his voice raised. “Do you fuckin’ know?”

Yeah, she knew. She knew all too well what could happen.
Nope! Not thinking about that
, she told herself. So instead Krista blurted the first thing that came to mind. “You think I’m beautiful?” Krista was hoping to change the uncomfortable subject, and so she smiled at him.

Kade stood there looking into her gorgeous face as the anger and frustration he’d been feeling for hours at the knowledge of her being so vulnerable melted away with just her smile. “Yeah, baby, you are. But you need to take better care.” He didn’t really understand it, but he wanted—no, he
needed
to protect her, to keep her safe.

Krista took a deep breath and then blew it out slowly. “I’m fine, have been fine, and will be fine.” Then looking up at him, she had to thank him. “I really appreciate what you’ve done, but, really, it was totally unnecessary.”

Kade just stared at her. He had to make her understand. He didn’t want to frighten her, but she had to know that not everybody was a sweet ninety year old woman. Some were sick monsters who would hurt her given the chance. “Krista, please listen to me.” He tried to explain, but this time she interrupted him.

“Stop, if you’re going to start with…” She lowered her voice to mimic his. “You need to lock yourself in your house twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, never to be seen by the light of day.” She then resumed speaking in her own voice as she continued. “Blah, blah, blah. I really, reallllly,” Krista dragged out the word, “do not, and I will not, hear it again!”

Christ, he almost wanted to laugh. This tiny thing stood in front of him, standing up to him, mimicking him. It would be funny if her safety wasn’t an issue. So, he tried again. “Look, I’m a cop.” Kade was trying to be very patient.

“Yes, a cop who broke into my house.” She had interrupted him again.

Okay, that was it. He stepped up close to her, bent down face to face, their noses all but touching. “There are sick fuckers out there who will hurt you!” Kade roared.

“I know that!” Krista yelled right back at him, in his face. “Trust me, I know what’s out there, but I’m not living my life in fear anymore,” she stated, then turned to walk away.

Kade reached out, grabbed her arm and spun her back to face him. “What did you say?” he demanded. Had someone hurt her? He would kill anyone who ever thought to lay a hand on this woman.

Krista belatedly realized what she’d said. She didn’t know why this man was reminding her of a past she’d left long ago. There was no way she could go back, not now, not after all this time. She was fine. Everything would be okay. “Look, I’m exhausted. I just want to lie down and rest. Can we talk about this later, please?” All of a sudden she was so very tired. All she wanted to do was lie down and sleep the rest of this day away. She watched as Kade’s face softened and the intense look in his eyes faded away.

“Yeah, baby, you go lie down while I finish this up and then I’ll get you something to eat.” He sounded so sweet, but right at that moment she just wanted to be alone.

“I’m not hungry, and if I try to eat anything, it will just come back up.”

He let go of her arm and reached up to cup her face, rubbing her cheek with his thumb while his eyes roamed her face. When his gaze came back to hers, he bent slightly, touching his lips to her forehead, and whispered to her, “Okay, baby.” Then he kissed her forehead again, dropped his hand, and went back to work on her door. She stood there for a few beats just staring at this man, this stranger she had only met…today? Really, had it only been a day? Kade didn’t feel like a stranger, he felt safe and comfortable. Looking at him, she could see he was twice, if not three times, bigger than her. He could break her into a million pieces, yet she felt no fear of him, even when he got that scary look on his face and yelled at her. Somewhere inside her, she just knew he would never hurt her, not physically at least, but her heart might be a different story. She’d already had her world torn apart by men. One who physically hurt her, one who killed her childhood, and one who broke her heart. What would this man do? Did she really want to find out? She just didn’t know.

Chapter Four

Krista awoke late the next morning. In fact, it was so late, it wasn’t morning anymore, but she was feeling…good! Wow, Dr. Miller said this round of treatments would be a little different. More intense. That’s why she was only having five this time instead of the usual eight. An experiment, he’d said. Shoot, her whole life had been an experiment which began when she was three years old and the doctors discovered her rare blood type. Yeah, yesterday had been bad. Really bad. When Kade had stopped to check on her, it had been the third time she’d had to pull over to the side of the road. The first time she felt dizzy, too dizzy to drive safely. The second time she became so nauseated she couldn’t see straight. By the time she’d stopped the third time, her body was racked with pain, from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Her blood had turned to fire, or at least that’s what it felt like. Like her whole body was burning from the inside out. Then she’d gotten sick.

Now…now she felt good. So good in fact, she thought she would bake a batch of brownies and take some to her ‘old as dirt’ neighbor. She giggled. She liked spending time with Mrs. Worley who was so sweet, and she loved to talk about ‘the good ole’ days. Krista could sit and listen to her for hours, talking about her life, her kids, grandkids, even great-grandkids, but most especially, her late husband. The love they’d shared was something Krista never tired of hearing about. It always reminded her of her mom and dad, before. Well, before everything had changed so drastically in just a moment of time.

Shaking off that thought, Krista took a quick shower, pulled her hair back with a clip, and fixed not just one batch of brownies but two, just because. Well, maybe she would wrap some up for Kade as a thank-you for everything, and maybe a peace offering. After all, he’d written her the sweetest note when he left yesterday. Grabbing the note, she couldn’t help but reread it yet again.

“
Krista, please take care. I only want you safe. Kade.”

Maybe after her visit with Mrs. Worley, she would drive over to the station with the brownies. She knew his name. His whole name. Krista giggled again at the memory of learning that fact. How hard could it be to find him? But first some Worley time. Grabbing her mp3 player, ear buds, and a plate of freshly baked treats, she started walking to Mrs. Worley’s house to spend a couple of hours.

Kade was sitting at his desk in the station house, going over mindless paper work. He was ready to retire. At thirty-five years old, he’d moved up the ranks pretty quickly. He knew his military training had helped with that. Joining the ROTC his junior year and then the Air Force straight out of high school had a lot to do with it. Now all he wanted was to be home working his ranch himself. Yeah, he had men, good men, who kept his ranch going. They were making him some damn good money, but he wanted to be a larger part of that, not just checking in every evening with his foreman or getting a small taste of ranch work on his days off. He wanted to spend his days riding his horse, and running his cows. Between the hell he’d been dropped into while in the Air Force and all the shit he’d seen as a police officer, he needed the peace he could only get from his land. Kade wanted to take Krista there, wondering if she’d ever ridden a horse. He wanted to take her riding over the ridge and down by the creek. Wanted to drive his old 4X4 and take her muddin’ down by the river where he and his buddies liked to go.

Krista. He had thought about her most of the night. By the time he’d finished putting the new locks on her door yesterday, she had fallen back to sleep and he didn’t want to wake her up again, even though he still hadn’t found out what was wrong with her. Why the treatments? The question was consuming his thoughts. So when it was time for him to go, he’d written her a note, covered her up, made sure her doors were locked, and headed home.

Now he was trying to get some of this paper work caught up. Just a few more weeks and his career in law enforcement would be over. He would be a full time cowboy, as the guys on the force liked to call him. Chuckling to himself, he thought,
hell
. He’d been a cowboy for the past seven years, or at least that’s how long he’d owned the ranch. He got lucky, buying a working ranch from old Mr. Peterson. He had spent many a summer, when he was a kid, working for Mr. Peterson. Most of his childhood was spent there. From the time he was four, Mrs. Peterson would watch him while his mom worked. As he grew, Mr. Peterson introduced him to the ranch and the older he got, the more work he was allowed to do, all the way up to his senior year of high school. Then he joined the Air Force. When he got out of the military and came back home, he went right back to helping Mr. Peterson on his ranch whenever he could and had the time. Some days, when he had days off from the force, he would spend whole days at that ranch. Mrs. Peterson used to tease him about having dirt in his veins.

“Once you get ranch dirt in them veins boy, you’re never going to be completely happy anywhere else.” She must’ve said that same thing to him hundreds of times. He stood there, shaking his head at that thought.

“Guess she knew what she was talking about,” he mumbled to himself. To say he was surprised when the Peterson’s wanted to sell the ranch would have been an understatement. But Mr. Peterson explained it all to him.

“We were never blessed with kids of our own, and you’re about the closest we’ve ever had. I know how much you love this land, son, so if you want it, it’s yours.” Simple as that. And he did love that land and the life that went with it. That’s what he wanted and now, finally, he’d have it. The ranch had been his dream, one he never really let himself dream, ever since he was four years old.

Wonder what Krista’s dreams are.
Just thinking about her made him smile. “That’s it, I’m outta here.” He wasn’t getting any work done and it was close enough to the end of his shift. He wanted to see Krista again. Wanted to make sure she was feeling better. Maybe take her out to eat or something. Maybe go for a drive, or hell, he’d even take her to the movies, and he hated theaters. But, for her, to spend time with her, he would go see a show. He was just getting ready to leave when his former partner stepped into his office.

“Hey, Kade, you going off shift?”